A/n: Yeah…it's a bit of a confusing start. Sometimes I like to work my way backwards…randomly thought about a sequel (because I get far too ahead of myself lol) that is set in present time. Hopefully this chapter will give you a little insight on why Ethan and Kristina are no longer in Port Charles.
2.
It's after 11 when Kristina takes a peep into her daughter's room. Aviana is curled up in her bed fast asleep without a care in the world. Why her daughter couldn't have inherited some of her better qualities she'll never know. How wonderful would it have been for Aviana to love school or horseback riding like she had? But no, Aviana was a magnet for trouble, much like she was at that age. She quietly closed Aviana's bedroom door shut taking a deep sigh. Avi was not going to make these next couple years easy for them. After checking in on Alex Kristina finally made her way back downstairs to her own bedroom. She was finally able to speak to her husband for the first time without little eavesdropping ears around. Ethan was already in bed, his eyes glued the TV, but Kristina knew better. His mind was somewhere else.
"You do realize what you've started right? Neither one of them is going to stop until they know about Port Charles and everyone in it, right?" Kristina asked climbing under the covers.
"I don't know what possessed me to take her there with me. It was a rash decision."
"Yes it was," She agreed irritably.
"Kristina-"
"Why on earth did you even go to Port Charles? We left and haven't looked back in 14 years." She studied Ethan's face and noticed the quickest of eye flutters. Someone who didn't know him the way she did would brush it off as nothing, but she knew that look all too well. He was hiding something.
"Ethan…"
"Luke and I have been in contact." Ethan let out a huge sigh of relief. He'd said it, finally.
"What?" She yelled quickly covering her mouth. They both paused for a moment, Ethan muting the TV both trying to tell if her voice had awoken the kids.
"Explain now." She demanded.
"When Luke split the Star between I—"
"You told me you let your lawyers handle that."
"I did…sort of. I was in the process-"
"In the process? What does that mean?"
"I felt like Luke deserved an explanation as to why I couldn't accept and I didn't want it to be conveyed through our lawyers. He deserved way more than me sending information through my attorney. My God I thought the man was my father for 3 years."
"So you've talked to Luke?"
"He understood our situation and he promised he wouldn't say anything. We kept in touch over the past 8 years, and then, when he found out he was sick-"
"Luke's sick?"
"He has pancreatic cancer. Was diagnosed 3 years ago I—I had to see him."
"You've been going to Port Charles for 3 years without telling me?"
"Yes, not very often, I'd go see him maybe once every couple of months usually during—"
"Your PIBA conferences." Kristina finished for him, trying not to let her anger get the best of her.
"Krissy—"
"We agreed, after the mob wars, after my mom—" She choked back her tears when she thought about her mother.
"We agreed that after all the lies and all the suffering that we had to leave that town and never look back. Not only for our own sanity but for the sanity of our children! Do you know what danger they would be in if anyone found out that Sonny Corinthos has grandchildren?"
"Well technically Michael has a kid—"
"You've talked to Michael?" She asked feeling the usual mix of pain and regret when she thought of her siblings.
"No, but Luke let me know Michael is married. He has a daughter. Sam and Jason have a son. Dante and Lulu are separated, no kids, Morgan, Molly both no kids. So technically Avi and Alex are Sonny's only biological grandchildren."
"You don't see the harm in that?"
"Of course I do but—"
"How could you lie to me? Do you know how many times I wanted to go back to Port Charles, see my family, and see my siblings, their kids, our friends? But then I thought about how we barely escaped with our lives. I look at Aviana and Alex and how we've raised them in a safe environemnt. They've never known the pain of having someone kidnap them, or how it feels to be shot at, or almost blown up, or watch someone they love be brutally murdered in front of their very eyes." She couldn't stop the tears from running down her face. She felt the weight of the bed as Ethan shifted closer to her wrapping his arms around her but she shoved him away.
"Get off me! You have no idea! None! I gave up my entire life for you Ethan! When you begged me to come back to Port Charles for my own safety I left Yale and I never looked back. And then, everything happened and I didn't have a choice but to run. I did that for you."
"For me?" Despite the overwhelming guilt he'd been feeling he couldn't help but draw out a harsh laugh.
"Kristina you can't be serious. I didn't pull you off campus that night because I was bored and wanted to chit chat and catch up on old times! I thought you were in danger! I was trying to save you."
"But I wasn't in danger Ethan! It was trap Ethan and you fell for it. I didn't need you to come safe me, you'd made it perfectly clear back then that you didn't want to be seen as hero." She told him bitterly.
"So everything that's happened is my fault now?" Kristina put her hands over her face and blew out a sigh of frustration.
"The point of the matter is that we made a vow that we would never let our past affect our future. You put our family in danger by going back to Port Charles. I've spent the last 14 years of my life living in fear. Isolating myself from my family, I found solace knowing that at least we were in this together. So how you repay me? By lying, sneaking back to that horrible town, and not only that bringing our daughter there?"
"Kristina, I know bringing Avi was a bad idea but—"
"Did you really think she was going to stay in the car? Have you met our daughter? She is exactly like me! Hard headed, stubborn, rebellious. You knew she was going to follow you!"
"I wasn't thinking! I hadn't heard from Luke in over a week and when I checked the Port Charles herald there was an article about him being back in the hospital I just…blacked out. Avi and I were driving back from the outlets and I saw the exit to Port Charles and the only thing I could think of was Luke. I needed to see him Kristina, if Luke died, and I didn't get a chance to tell him how much I loved him, how much I respected him, regardless of what Holly did to us." Kristina shook his words out of her head not feeling one ounce of empathy for him.
"It's nice to know you got a chance to say your final goodbyes to Luke, Ethan. I never had a chance to say my final goodbyes to my mother. Or did you forget that? Her lifeless corpse, blood everywhere?"
"Kristina—"
"I'm going downstairs." She said hoping out of their bed suddenly.
"It's late."
"Can't sleep. I have a presentation in the morning; I should probably look over those notes." She said avoiding her husband's eye.
Cameron Spencer was a very light sleeper. It probably started sometime after his little brother Jake died. He was nine at the time, and although he understood the concept of death at that point, there was a part of him that hoped Jake dying had been one really bad joke his parents were playing on him. That his little brother, his best friend, would all of a sudden open his bedroom door jump on his bed and tell him "GOTCHA!"
His mom would watch him sleep after Jake died him and Aiden. But Aiden was just a baby, barely even one. He didn't know what was going on. Every night he'd fall asleep and his mother would open his bedroom door, oh so quietly, but he would always hear it, he'd shut his eyes pretending to sleep as his mom stood there, crying softly, sometimes praying asking God why this happened to her.
Yes, Cameron was a very light sleeper. This is why when he heard a key opening his apartment door close to midnight he immediately sat up in bed. He quietly opened his nightstand grabbing the gun he kept for protection. What could he say? He was paranoid, having the last name Spencer, tended to make people want to test you, see if you lived up to the famous Luke Spencer. Most didn't even think to realize he was only a Spencer by default; he never bothered to correct them.
Cameron tip toed out of his bedroom and hid in the darkness quickly inserting 1 bullet in the chamber. Fortunately for him he had a killer shot. If this intruder had a death wish he'd broken into the right apartment. Closing the chamber pulling the top of the barrel back Cameron wrapped his finger around the trigger. Gun loaded, ready to fire at the intruder. The door quietly opened and a figured masked in a black hoodie snuck in closing it gently behind him.
"Stay there!" Cameron yelled as the figure jumped nervously he watched as the intruder began to reach for something.
"Stop or I'll shoot!"
"Whoa dude put the gun away!" The intruder yelled turning on the light to Cameron's apartment. Aiden Spencer stood his back against the door looking at his brother in disbelief.
"Aiden!" Cameron lowered the gun down letting out a sigh of frustration.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"What the hell are you doing with a gun? I never knew you even owned a gun." Ignoring his little brother he unloaded the chamber as he walked back into his bedroom putting the gun in its hiding spot.
"You have school in the morning! Why are you here?" He asked walking back out in the living room where Aiden was comfortably resting on his couch.
"Just got in, mom would kill me if I came home this late so I sent her a text saying I crashed here."
"You shouldn't lie to mom. And what makes you think I'm letting you stay here Aiden? You're 15 years old you shouldn't be out at midnight! In fact you should be in bed, homework done, ready for school."
"Yeah okay," Aiden said sarcastically taking his hoodie off throwing it on the ground. He got up walking over to Cameron's linen closet pulling out a blanket and extra pillows.
"What is wrong with you? Skipping school, sneaking out, lying to mom. It's bad enough your face is plastered all over the papers for that stupid stunt you pulled at the hospital."
"Oh my God do I have to hear this again?"
"Yeah as a matter of fact, you do. You want to stay overnight, then you have to hear my lecture. You're lucky, lucky, the Judge was friends with Uncle Dante or else your ass might be locked up right now." Aiden walked past him fixing his couch into his own little bed.
"I know Cam, you, mom, Uncle Dante, Aunt Lulu, everyone has told me this."
"But it's not getting through to you! Do you want to end up in jail? Locked away for the rest of your life? Let me tell you baby bro, prison doesn't give a crap about you being Luke Spencer's grandson. It's not the PCPD holding cell buddy."
"Oh right because you know so much about prison, right Cameron? You've been a goody two shoes your entire life. The closest you've ever been to prison is taking those kids who are assigned to you on the prison tours to scare them."
"You're right, I don't know a lot about prison. But I've been inside, I've seen what goes on and I know it's not a place I ever want to end up." Aiden snorts at him.
"You'd be a joke in prison," Aiden tells him hoping onto the couch.
"Yeah? And you'd be dead because no one's going to take a little runt like you mouthing off in Pentonville." Cameron tells him fighting the urge to shake him. Before he could lose his cool he heads back to his own room slamming the door. That kid just didn't get it. There was going to come a day when no one could cover for his mistakes.
It's times like this, he wonders how it would've been if Jake were still alive. Would Jake have been the voice of reason? The fine medium between his straight and narrow path and Aiden's destructive behavior? He doesn't even make it to the bed before he collapses onto the ground silently crying.
"I miss you Jake." He croaked curling up in a fetal position. He never understood how he lived in a world where there could be so much death and destruction around, so many horrible wicked people who took the lives of innocent people who lived long healthy lives and yet his 3 year old brother's life was taken from him before he could even enjoy life. It wasn't fair for his little brother to be taken away that early. Life just wasn't fair.
Aiden Spencer hated when Cameron would pretend to be his father. He didn't need his brother, who was only 8 years older than him, trying to tell him what to do. Hell, his own father, didn't even care enough to pretend he was worried so why should he?
His phone vibrated indicating he had a text message. It was from his mom.
'Wish you or Cameron would've let me know sooner! Go to bed, and don't be late for school in the morning! Love you baby'
He'd sent her a text a couple minutes before entering Cam's apartment telling her he'd fallen asleep on Cameron's couch and was sorry he didn't let her know sooner. If there was one thing his mom always trusted completely, it was that he was safe in Cam's care. And he knew that although Cam would always puff out his chest and pretend that he was going to rat him out, he never did.
He decided to log onto his Slosh account, a whole bunch of people he didn't like talking about a whole lot of nothing. He had 15 new messages, most from girls who found his 'bad boy image' hot, or guys who thought it was cool to 'hang' with Aiden Spencer, he was surprised by an unfamiliar face that popped into his inbox.
Met you today at the hospital in Port Charles. You told me I was gazing at your gramps. Your mom seemed freaked out when she saw my dad. I'm not allowed anywhere your town and snuck into the hospital. I need your help. I have a lot of questions and you have answers. Hope to hear from you soon.
-Aviana Lovett
He recognized her from the hospital! His mom and brother forced him to go see his grandpa at the General Hospital. He loved Luke, wanted to be Luke, but seeing his gramps, withered up, hooked up to machines wasn't his thing. They had been walking down the hall towards Luke's room when they noticed this girl, tall, olive skin, long dark hair peeping through Luke's room. It was weird, and when his mom called her out she freaked, like she'd been caught stealing from them or something. To top it off, some guy comes out of the room and he could've swore his mom was about to have a heart attack when she saw him.
When the guy and his daughter ran off, Elizabeth brushed it off as if nothing had happened. Lovett. No one had even given him the full story, but he'd heard the name Ethan Lovett comes up in conversations. He was some sort of uncle to him. He skipped town after the blood bath massacre of 2012 and apparently never looked back. His daughter wasn't allowed near Port Charles? He had a couple questions of his own. Who was Ethan Lovett and why didn't anyone like mentioning his name? What happened that made this guy leave town. He'd asked Cameron a few times and he gave him the standard 'I was young, I don't remember', but he knows that's bull. Aiden hit reply.
What makes you think I have the answers, Lovett? My mom tells me nothing. But I've heard of your dad before. Let's make a deal, come back to PC, we compare notes, and we put the pieces to the puzzle together. (718) 555-8130. Call me.
-Aiden Spencer
